1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an electrophoresis device that uses electrophoresis, (a phenomenon of) movement of charged particles in medium caused by application of a voltage, for image formation purpose, etc. The invention further relates to an electronic apparatus including the electrophoresis device.
2. Related Art
One of the excellent features of display devices using electrophoresis, particularly, microcapsule-type electrophoresis display devices is their flexibility. A flexible display device is provided easily with use of films of resin, etc., (where the films are used) as two substrates that sandwich an electrophoretic dispersion liquid. It is expected that such a device will be used as an electronic paper and other electronic apparatuses. However, use of films in place of glass causes degradation in quality of an electrophoresis display device due to moisture penetration. A film substrate does not sufficiently prevent moisture penetration whereas a glass substrate does. Therefore, degradation will occur due to moisture penetration if an electrophoresis display device having films is exposed to a high-temperature and high-humidity atmosphere for a long time, which deteriorates display quality significantly. As solutions to such a problem, JP-A-2005-114820 and JP-A-2005-114822 disclose electrophoresis display devices with a structure in which moisture penetration is blocked by laminating a transparent resin protective film on a substrate (first substrate) on the side of a display surface, and providing a vapor-blocking resin layer in a gap between the transparent resin protective film and a substrate (second substrate) on the side of a non-display surface in a peripheral end face of the display surface.
Meanwhile, in the electrophoresis devices having the above structure, in order to supply driving signals to the electrophoretic dispersion liquid, it is necessary to provide a wiring pattern from the inside of the first substrate or the second substrate toward the end thereof, and to electrically connect the wiring pattern at this end to external devices (a voltage-applying circuit, a control circuit, etc.). Specifically, a structure in which the first substrate or the second substrate is caused to protrude further to the outside than the vapor-blocking resin layer in the peripheral end face of the electrophoresis device, and the wiring pattern at the end of the substrate is exposed to the outside can be considered. However, if such structure is adopted, since the width of the peripheral end face of the electrophoresis device, i.e., the width of a frame portion which does not contribute to display, equals a sum of the width of sealing formed by the vapor-blocking resin layer and the width of the first substrate or the second substrate for allowing the wiring pattern to protrude, the width of the frame portion is increased. For this reason, it is difficult to meet a demand for narrowing the frame portion of the electrophoresis device, and thus there is further room for improvement of this point.